Bellator 92 set for March 7 in California with Jansen-Held headliner

The delayed lightweight tournament final between Dave Jansen (18-2 MMA, 5-0 BFC) and Marcin Held (15-2 MMA, 4-1 BFC) now has a date and location.

Bellator 92 will take place March 7 from Pechanga Resort & Casino in Temecula, Calif. Bellator officials on Friday announced the event and tournament final.

Tickets for the event currently are on sale and, as with all the promotion’s Season 8 events, the main card will air live on Spike TV at 10 p.m. ET following prelims on Spike.com.

The Jansen-Held fight was supposed to take place this past month at Bellator’s Season 7 finale in Hammond, Ind. But despite Held weighing in the day before the event at Horseshoe Casino, on fight day Indiana commission officials declared him unable to fight on the card since he was just 20 years old and the event took place in a casino. Indiana state law required him to be at least 21.

At that time, the fight was pushed to Season 8, and on Friday it got its new home.

Jansen brings a five-fight win streak to the bout, all five with Bellator. In Season 7, Jansen submitted Magomed Saadulaev to reach the lightweight tournament semifinals, then won a split decision against Ricardo Tirloni in November to reach the finals against Held.

Held, who coincidentally turned 21 on Friday, the day of Bellator’s announcement – appropriate since he’ll again be scheduled to fight at a casino venue – also has a five-fight win streak. To reach the finals against Jansen, he beat Murad Machaev by unanimous decision in October, then submitted Rich Clementi with a toe hold in November. His four most recent submissions have all been leg holds of one kind or another.

“I’ve had a lot of time to work on my game plan and really focus on this fight on March 7,” Jansen stated. “Marcin has the total package when it comes to submissions, so I know what I need to focus on to win this fight and get a shot at the Bellator title.”

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